Month: August 2014

SUO challenged us to design a clean and simple card with lots of white space. I was in the mood to play with some new stamps, so I reached for a recent gift I received, the Timeless Talk set. The telephone image captured my eye and I decided that would be my entire focal point with a simple candy dot embellishment for the phone’s dial. I liked the tone the Raspberry Ripple created beside the Basic Black, so I selected that color for my matte, as well as for coloring the candy dot. I was clipping along assembling my card, thinking, “Wow, this card is coming together in record time!” – When all of a sudden, I hit a roadblock… So, here’s what I learned after multiple attempts to stamp a clear greeting. Due to the greeting’s letter style, this greeting does not work particularly well with Versamark; I tried the ink pad, as well as the pen, and was unable to achieve an even/clear greeting. Second lesson learned, some of the rubber on my greeting needs to be trimmed away; no matter how I stamped the greeting, it continually left a faint border on the bottom left. After five tries though, I said to myself “This is a handmade card; the “extra” ink simply adds an authentic touch of truly being handmade!” I walked away pleased with the card and a smile on my face.

What is it about teddy bears that makes them just SO adorable?! Teddy bears seem to span the ages — I don’t think a person ever gets too old to enjoy a teddy bear, do you?! This week’s Paper Players’ challenge is to design a child’s CAS birthday card. After browsing through my stamps and not coming up with anything I wanted to use, I decided a punch art card was in order. After all, what child doesn’t delight in a teddy bear?! So I grabbed my circle and oval punches and started punching — a few minutes later, I had this little cub peeking in to say “Happy Birthday!” CAS cards are always a challenge for me; but, I found this DSP to work perfectly for a card with minimal layers. This particular DSP has exactly 4” between like-colored stripes; so, I aligned the paper in my paper trimmer in such a way that the Melon Mambo lines served as my outside edges which allowed the DSP to blend perfectly with the base of the card when it was assembled. Now for the ultimate question, do bears have tails? If so, what would you do to add a tail to this bear; I’d love to hear your answers!

Fab Friday’s challenge this week is to create a baby card in celebration of Mindy’s son’s recent arrival – congratulations Mindy! Something for Baby seemed to be the appropriate stamp set to use; it was actually the first time I had opened the set. I decided to go with a fun fold, using the baby carriage as my focal image. To jazz up the carriage a bit, I masked around the base and stamped the carriage with the hounds tooth pattern from the Tape It set. I then added some dashed lines onto the carriage top and cut it out, mounting it with a pop dot over the original image to add some dimension; an Island Indigo candy dot was applied to coordinate with the matte.

I wanted the greeting to match the DSP; but, I didn’t want to stamp directly onto the DSP. So, I used the circle stamp from Work of Art to add coordinating circle images onto the Whisper White greeting; then, I surround it with Coastal Cabana ruffle trim to serve as a frame for the focal image when the card is closed. For the bottom of the gift card holder section, I used Bordering Blooms (love that set). Finishing touch was a heart embosslit accented with a medium rhinestone.

STAMPIN UP STAMP(S): Something for Baby, Bordering Blooms, Work of Art, Tape It

My technique class this month is focusing on “negatives;” so, I thought I’d use this week’s Pals Paper Arts challenge to try a split image design. I love participating in challenges; they prompt me to use colors and layouts I’d probably never choose on my own. This week’s color challenge is a perfect example of that, I was excited about coupling the split image with Strawberry Slush for a dramatic pop; but, I was concerned the Pear Pizazz would not add the desired contrast – I was wrong! I’m quite happy with this color combination and with the way the Basic Black DSP accents the card as a whole.

To accomplish the split image, I simply laid my Whisper White and Basic Black side by side and stamped the image with VersaMark; then I embossed using black embossing powder on the Whisper White and white embossing powder on the Basic Black. That’s all there is to it!

My daughter phoned me recently to ask if I could make a card for her to take to a baptism celebration. I Googled “baptism cards” and found some cute cards in the shape of a dress. So, I sat down at my desk with a piece of scrap card stock and a ruler and quickly whipped up this baptism card. I pulled out my SU paper cutter to use for the diagonal cut; but, in all honesty, I found a pair of scissors to be quicker and easier when I replicated the card a second time. I simply placed a light pencil mark at 3/4″ in from each side and then drew a light line from the bottom outside corner up to the 3/4″ mark on each side; then I cut diagonally up and horizontally over to the 3/4″ mark. The top of the dress was embossed with the Polka Dot EF and the bottom with the Delicate Designs EF (circles are my geometric shape for the SUO challenge). The neckline was cut with the smallest Labels Collection die; and the shoulders were shaped with the corner rounder. A few accent pearls on the bottom of the dress and a Whisper White Ribbon added the finishing touches.

Now that my husband and I are empty nesters, I look forward with great excitement to the times when we have all of our “kids” and their spouses/boyfriend under one roof together for an extended period of time. We have an upcoming beach trip that I’m very eagerly awaiting! So, my mind has been flitting to beach scenes. Today’s card took many twists and turns along the way. It went from a crisp, clean image, to a “dirtied, beachy” image. I was pleased with the way the Stylish Stripes EF complimented the Lullaby DSP. To add just a bit of style, I used a small hole punch on the shell’s matte to accent the focal image. The first version of this card, I simply stamped the shell with a darker color on top of the En Francais; I was not pleased. So, next, I stamped it with Early Espresso and quickly sprinkled on some clear embossing powder and then heat set. I sponged it with some crumb cake and still felt it was too drab; so, I added a bit of Pink Pirouette and some white gel pen. It’s difficult to differentiate the colors; but, in person the pink and white do show through and offer the hint of contrast that I desired. Finally, to finish the card for the Paper Players’ challenge, I added a Naturals Designer button with some linen thread.
STAMPIN UP STAMP(S): By the Seashore, En Francais
STAMPIN UP INK: Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Early Espresso, Pink Pirouette, white gel pen
STAMPIN UP CARDSTOCK/DSP: Soft Suede, Lost Lagoon, Very Vanilla, Lullaby DSP
ACCESSORIES: Stylish Stripes EF, Naturals Designer button, linen thread, clear embossing powder, heat tool, sponge, hole punch, dimensionals